PhD in EEB - Ecology Track

Students acquire the advanced training to produce world-class researchers and scientists for the 21^st Century. They will attain expertise in their research area and teaching required to pursue a career in academia, as well as the skills and qualifications needed to work in industry, government, and non-profits.

The PhD typically requires a minimum of four years to complete. The scope of the dissertation is larger than that required for a MS program, often encompassing several components to a research question. The PhD program also requires successful completion of a qualifying exam.

During the first semester in residence in the Program the student and their advisor will form an advisory committee for the purpose of selecting courses, conducting the qualifying exam and overseeing and ultimately approving the student’s PhD research. The Committee must contain a minimum of 3 faculty, two of whom are EEB members in addition to the advisor.  Each semester the Advisory Committee evaluates the student’s progress toward their degree and reports that progress to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). In cases in which the student is not making satisfactory progress, the advisory committee, by majority vote, can recommend to the DGS that the student be placed on probation. Students on probation will have two semesters to correct the deficiencies identified by the DGS. If they do not do so, they face dismissal.

In addition to meeting the Graduate School requirement of 72 credit hours, students are required to complete EVS 553 Foundations of Ecology (1 credit) and EVS 554 Grad Research Seminar (1 credit) in their first two semesters; as well as enroll in EVS 555 Colloquium (1 credit) each semester until they are advanced to Candidacy (i.e., upon completion of their qualifying examination), and complete at least 16 additional hours of formal courses.

Students are also required to take a minimum of three courses from the following:

• APY 546: Physical Anthropology Special Topics
• APY 547: Behavioral Research Methods
• BIO 500: Bioinformatics/Genome Analysis
• BIO 525: Developmental Evolution
• EVS 509: Advanced Ecology
• EVS 545: Restoration Ecology
• GEO 515: Conservation Biogeography
• GEO 546: Global Change Ecology
• GLY 558: Macroevolution
• GLY 569: Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Ecology
• PSY 634: Animal Behavior
• PSY 640: Animal Communication

The purpose of the requirement is to promote interdisciplinary training and the three courses must be distributed across three different departments.  Students are also expected to acquire appropriate quantitative skills.

Students are expected to design a program, along with their adviser, that best fits their particular needs and interests. Therefore, various courses can be chosen throughout departments to fulfill the formal course credit requirements (see Courses).

Students may petition the Director of Graduate Studies for credit for graduate courses taken at other institutions.

The examination consists of two components, 1) an evaluation of the student’s background knowledge, and 2) a defense of a research proposal on the student’s PhD research. The background test is meant to test the student’s knowledge and understanding of material in evolutionary biology, ecology and behavior. The evaluation of the research proposal is meant to assess and provide feedback on the student’s research plan and assess their ability to collect, analyze and interpret the necessary data. Both components of the exam should be completed by the end of the student’s fourth semester in residence and in cases of required revision no later than the start of the 5th semester. A typical timetable will be to take the background exam at the start of the fourth semester and to defend the research proposal late in the fourth semester. Under exceptional circumstances the student may petition the DGS for an extension of the time limits for the qualifying examination.

The format of the background examination may be written or oral or some combination of the two at the advisory committee’s discretion. The exam may be held in any of the first four semesters in residence, but no later than the fourth semester in residence.  Prior to the semester in which the exam is to be taken the committee will meet with the student and communicate the format and scope of the exam to the student. The background component of the qualifying exam can be scored as pass, pass contingent upon successful completion of a course designated by the committee, pass contingent upon successful evaluation in a specific subject area designated by the committee, or fail. The score of the background portion of the qualifying exam will be based on the majority vote of all members of the advisory committee.

Following successful completion of the background exam the student will prepare a research proposal on their proposed PhD thesis research similar in form and detail to the project description of a National Science Foundation or National Institutes of Health proposal.  The proposal will be provided to the committee no less than 1 month before the exam and the committee will return the proposal to the student with comments no less than 2 weeks before the exam. The exam must be held prior to the end of the 4th semester of residence.  The student will be expected to defend the research proposal and address the advisory committee comments in an oral examination that can include questions on the background, rationale, design, methodology and analysis of the proposed research. The research component of the exam will be scored as either passed, passed contingent on successful revision of the proposal or failed. The advisor will not participate in the final vote, and passing the exam will require approval of the advisor and the majority of the voting advisory committee members. In the case of a pass contingent on successful revision, the student must defend a revised version of the proposal no later than the start of the 5th semester.

The Advisory Committee will oversee progress of the student’s research and will report that progress in evaluations each semester.  Following completion of the data collection and data analysis phases of the project the student will present their research results in a data review. At that time the Advisory Committee will determine whether the research is of sufficient scope and quality to proceed with the preparation of the dissertation. The student will then prepare a dissertation following guidelines set by the committee. Once a draft of the dissertation has been approved by the Advisor, the student provides each of the remaining Advisory Committee members with a copy of the dissertation. The Committee members may accept the dissertation as submitted or request revisions. The Advisory Committee may request comments on the dissertation from an outside reader, selected by the Advisory Committee. This may be especially valuable when the candidate’s research incorporates work that is outside the expertise of the majority of the advisory committee members. If the Advisory Committee invites comments from an outside reader those comments must also be received and addressed prior to the defense. Once the Committee members and Advisor approve any required revisions, the oral defense may be scheduled.

The PhD Dissertation must be presented orally before the Advisory Committee at an announced defense that is open to the University community. The date, time, and place of the defense are arranged between the student and the Advisory Committee and must be announced two weeks prior to the defense. To ensure the student has time to make the necessary revision after the defense, the defense must be held one month prior to Graduate School’s deadline for submitting materials.

The oral defense is open to all members of the UB academic community. The defense, chaired by a member of the thesis committee other than the major advisor, consists of a presentation by the candidate which should include a statement of the problem, methods used, results obtained, and conclusions reached. The presentation should be given as though it were a formal paper being presented at a scientific meeting.  Upon completion of the summary, attendees outside of the committee will be given an opportunity to ask questions.  The members of the committee will then question the student.  Immediately, after the committee has completed its questions, the committee along with any interested faculty will meet in private to discuss the outcome of the defense. The Advisory Committee will determine, if the oral defense was passed successfully and whether any revisions to the Dissertation are required. Members of the Advisory Committee will approve the final revisions to the Dissertation or at their discretion delegate that responsibility to the Advisor. In the event of failure, the student will be permitted a second oral exam which is to be scheduled in consultation with their committee.